I
am asking your help in shamanic healing and prayers
for our brothers, sisters, and for the land of
Israel itself.

TendingSacredCircles
and a group in Israel were sponsoring two shamanic
workshops to take place March, 2001. These were
part of our continuing mission to support the
practice of shamanism and shamanic circles on
a global basis. From groundwork laid two years
ago while I was in Israel, we anticipated that
these Circles would include people from many countries,
and also represent the great range of ethnic,
cultural, and spiritual diversity within Israel
itself.

Our
purpose was to see how shamanism would assist
us in knowing we are One People and reaffirm our
spiritual relationship with other beings and Earth
herself -- and allow these ancient ancestral lands
to speak to us of their wisdom.

Just
as our International Shamanic Gathering in Oracle,
two years ago, created a community which could
be called upon beyond that particular gathering,
we hoped the workshops in Israel would expand
our 'known' community of shamanic Way Walkers.
As we expand together, so too do our efforts and
abilities to bring more healing and love into
this world.

The
situation in Israel has altered radically since
our original planning. After journeying and conversations
among those of us coordinating the workshops,
we decided it wise to postpone them given the
escalating violence in that Land. We made this
decision with heavy hearts - yet also aware that
many people who had planned to come had written
they considered the situation too unsafe to continue
with their plans.

Thus
we turned our hearts and minds to how we as individuals
and as Circles could be actively supportive --
hold hands together in one large Circle across
the oceans, across distant lands. To manifest
shamanic community encircling the Earth, encircling
Israel, with our love and prayers.

As
with any call for help, if help is not forthcoming
there can grow a deepening sense of loneliness,
of abandonment, of bereavement, and loss of re
lationship with the larger human community. Those
of us walking this path and working on behalf
of others, know that shamanism is not a solo act
- it is communal and shamans' act on behalf of
both the individual and the community. So we are
being called to help - an urgent need affecting
all of us for we know whatever affects one, affects
all.

What
to do???

Some
of us affiliated with TendingSacredCircles - and
who were involved in the workshops to take place
in March, have been seeking guidance as to what
all of us might do together. We have also been
especially concerned to stay in continuing contact
with the shamanic circles in Israel which meet
regularly -- around their Circle fires drumming
and journeying for peace while just beyond their
walls, the sounds of violence. After one such
recent Circle gathering, Ziva Garbi, our International
Affiliate, wrote this note:

"I
shivered while reading about how TSC could ask
for help and prayers for Israel. I have passed
many wars and difficult times here where we live
but this time I know I am not alone. I can feel
I am part of a web with many strands which connect
me to sisters and brothers around the world. You
over the oceans feel that the strand here is in
trouble and know we need your journeys and prayers
for healing."

Another
TSC Council member, Lanz Lowen, journeyed about
the situation and sent these words: ...

"I
had a knowing that the Middle East needs to be
held and loved by many peoples all over the world;
that there is tremendous power in peoples being
in their own homeland and sending their love and
light to Israel and Palestine; that there is learning
needed by all of us how we can hold a land/people/prayer
in our hearts and let our prayers encourage healing.

This
would also be supportive...of the Circles there
in Israel...and also would be a great teacher
for all of us in how we can be at each others'
back as we sit in different places all over the
world."

Thus,
on behalf of TSC, I invite all of us to do shamanic
work 'tending that strand in trouble' and also
learning how to hold a land/people" in a
way that encourages healing.

Here
are the specific things we plan to do and invite
your participation. May our intentions be focused
on: "What can we do to support the powers
of healing and light in Israel - the Middle East?

First,
we are creating webpages where we will post all
messages, prayers, journeys, and any other material
sent to us. Postings will also include letters
sent and/or received between individuals if they
wish to post. For example, someone in Israel may
wish to post a letter - or parts of a letter -
received from someone else. Such writings invite
and open dialogues that might lead all of us together
to do something heretofore not envisioned.

There
will be links to these special pages at TSC's
home page shamaniccircles.org, shamanicvisions.com
(my website), and Sandra Ingerman's webpage. In
this way we are trying to reach all those who
visit these various websites which are in some
way affiliated with Tending Sacred Circles.

Here
are some suggestions for what we as individuals
and Circles might do now:

1)
Send prayers - write prayers that can also be
posted - and thus we pray together.

2)
Send poems - or any other writing to be posted
- remembering the power of words to lift our
hearts and spirits.

3)
If you wish to write a personal letter, please
do so - and consider having that posted as part
of our "shamanic letters" of encouragement,
peace, and healing in the Middle East.

4)
Journey as a Circle - forming an intention connected
with our healing purpose. Have someone in your
Circle send this to me and we will post it.

5)
Journey to see if there is some special message
for the Circles in Israel; journey to see if
there is some special message for those of us
'not' in Israel yet seeking to offer prayers
and healing.

6)
Journey to see what particular Power Animals
might be ones wishing to be of assistance. Remember
that sometimes Places have Guardian Spirits
or Guardian Power Animals. Might we learn about
such a Spirit (s) in our journeys - and what's
the nature of the power or gifts they hold.

7)
Journey to see if there is some ceremony...for
your Circle...for all Circles...that we might
do now.

8)
You might wish to write Ziva Garbi directly
- she will share with the Circles there. Her
email is: drorg@actcom.co.il

Finally,
these workshops/Circle gatherings in Israel were
to take place March 15 - 17 (Dead Sea area) and
March 21 - 24 (Galilee area). As we begin doing
our shamanic work now, creating and sustaining
our prayers and healing activities, our hope is
that by the time those weekends arrive in March,
we might also have come to some agreed upon day(s)
during one or both of those weekends when Circles
around the world would gather and send energy
and light to Israel......knowing that we may not
be there physically but our work is not limited
by geography - yet it take strong intention to
'hold and send' across the distances.

The
above are suggestions - please share other ideas
or suggestions you might have. The webpages are
now being made - I invite you to visit the sites
from time to time, share with your Circle, and
with others who would be interested in offering
support.

With
respect for the power of prayer and healing when
we partner with our spirits and within our Circles,
may we be blessed to know the joy of responding
to a Call for help.